Quotes About Morality

Your prim faith in the True Sect's canon serves naught. The temple preaches a loveless morality that cares not one jot for the plight of our livelihood. The priests are fat parasites, theosophizing on their rumps while folk like us break our backs, milked dry by their tithes and their rote obligations. Where does their doctrine show the least concern for our chance to enjoy the fruits of our happiness?

In Italy, it is not Beppe Grillo's complaints about Italy's la casta that should lead one to worry about him as a populist but his assertion that his movement wants (and deserves) nothing less than 100 percent of the seats in parliament, because all other contenders are supposedly corrupt and immoral.

Opportunism has suffered the emasculation of being converted into a principle;

Not everyone who criticizes elites is a populist. In addition to being antielitist, populists are antipluralist. They claim that they and they alone represent the people. All other political competitors are essentially illegitimate, and anyone who does not support them is not properly part of the people. When in opposition, populists will necessarily insist that elites are immoral, whereas the people are a moral, homogeneous entity whose will cannot err.

populists are not generally "against institutions," and they are not destined to self-destruct once in power. They only oppose those institutions that, in their view, fail to produce the morally (as opposed to empirically) correct political outcomes. And that happens only when they are in opposition. Populists in power are fine with institutions—which is to say, their institutions.

success is not guaranteed to well-intentioned decent people, nor necessarily denied to evil people.

these we killed, and others we killed—but what of that? It was in accordance with our custom.

If our ethical code makes a purely arbitrary distinction between humans and all other species, then we have a code based on naked selfishness devoid of any higher principle.

True and baseless evil is as rare as the purest good--and we all know how rare that is...

The cleanest souls are the easiest to soil.

Cash is always the deciding factor in such matters of moral politics; nothing ever gets done unless motivated by commerce or greed.

By spiritually I merely mean that I feel I have good in my soul and am inclined to follow the correct course of action given a prescribed set of circumstances.

If we didn't execute bankers and rogue traders found guilty of financial mischief, it might give them the clear signal that it's actually okay, and then where would we be?

Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to for the greater good.

If a shred of integrity fell into your soul, it would die a very lonely death.

There's more to good or bad than what's written in the Rulebook.

Believe me, you're going to have to do much worse than this--in the pursuit of freedom, the innocents will suffer--and at your hands.

While most humans are wired to be reasonably decent, a few are wired to be utter shits -- and they do tend to tip the balance.

By spiritual I merely mean that I feel I have good in my soul and am inclined to follow the correct course of action given a prescribed set of circumstances. Do you understand?

It occurred to him that perhaps the Dark One had got a bum deal -- Demetrios would have made his own way to hell in the fullness of time, without an Allegro Equipe to take him there.

Según eso, también debe de haber falsos buenos —dedujo Olga. —Claro —dijo Melchor—. Son los verdaderos malos.

O sea que se puede ser un buen escritor siendo un grandísimo hijo de puta. Qué...

porque yo sé muy bien que en política hay que hacer cosas que nadie quiere hacer, hay que ensuciarse las manos, pactar con el diablo si hace falta. Por eso, si hay infierno, todos los políticos iremos al infierno. Esa es la realidad, y quien no la conoce no debería dedicarse a la política, porque no sabe lo que es el poder.

se puede ser un buen escritor siendo una pésima persona..." "De todas las historias de la historia", escribió Jaime Gil de Biedma, "sin duda la más triste es la de España, porque termina mal